As if there was any doubt who it would be, Marian Hossa was the first
player to be handed the Stanley Cup from captain Jonathan Toews. The
22-year old, after holding the Cup over his head, turned around and
instantly looked for #81.

The supposedly cursed forward, who had been on the losing side of the
Stanley Cup finals two years in a row, finally got his chance to hold
the trophy himself. Perhaps it wasn’t the same emotional moment we’ve
seen in the past with players like Ray Bourque and Mark Messier, but
this was still one of the very special moments you only ever get to see
in hockey.

Say what you will about the guy, but you have to feel good for Marian
Hossa tonight.

Toews says that it was an easy decision to hand the Cup off to
“Hoss”:

“Yeah, well we talked about it very, very briefly this morning,”
Toews said afterward. “Didn’t want to get overexcited or think too much
of the end result, but mentioned it to him this morning to be ready,
that if we did happen to hoist it tonight, that Duncan and Sharpy both
agreed that he should be the first guy after myself to grab it.

“You
know, it’s special for him. And I can’t imagine being a part of three
long seasons like that and to win one finally. It’s amazing for all of
us. But especially for him too for sure.”

For Hossa, it was the
culmination of three very long seasons. No other player in NHL history
had made it this far in three straight seasons with three different
teams. And while his numbers this year may not have been all that great,
as the series against the Flyers went on you could see just how
determined he was to finally win it. While his team was struggling a bit
to start the series, he was the best player on his team through the
first four games.

After the game, he was quiet and a bit
emotional, saying that it was a “relief” to win.

Congrats to Hossa. I’m a huge Pens fan and I’m happy for him. Too man so-called “Pens fans” hate him for taking less money to try and go to a team to win a Stanley Cup. That, to me, is admirable. Plus, had he stayed in Pittsburgh, Orpik, Staal, Guerin, fedotenko would not have been here and we would have lost another cup without those guys. Congratulations to Chicago.